Freddie Freeman on the Braves taking a 1-0 series lead on the Dodgers

Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman talks about the 5-1 win over the Dodgers

Tonight’s Game: The Braves and Dodgers opened their best-of-seven National League Championship Series tonight with their first meeting of the season...Atlanta and Los Angeles did not play during the regular season, and last met in 2019...The Braves went 2-4 in six games against the Dodgers last season, getting swept at Dodger Stadium and winning two-of-three in Atlanta…The Braves and Dodgers have met three times in postseason play, all of which have come in the Division Series...Atlanta swept Los Angeles in the 1996 NLDS, while Los Angeles has won each of the last two series, in 2013 and 2018, three-games-to-one.

Never Quit With Snit: Atlanta scored four ninth-inning runs to snap a 1-1 tie and give the Braves a 5-1 win in Game 1…It was the second win in Atlanta’s final at-bat this postseason, along with Game 1 of the Wild Card Series versus Cincinnati…The Braves won eight games in their last at-bat this season, tied for the second most in the National League and one off the lead of the San Diego Padres...Since Brian Snitker took over as manager on May 17, 2016, the Braves have 85 such wins, the most in the majors…The Braves led the National League in final at-bat wins in 2016 (19) and 2017 (20), tied for the league lead in 2018 (20) and finished fifth last season (20).

Big Inning: The four runs Atlanta scored in the final frame tied the most the club has ever scored in the ninth inning or later of a playoff game…The Braves also scored four in the ninth in Game 2 of the 1995 NLDS at Colorado, Game 3 of the 2002 NLDS vs. San Francisco, and in the 10th inning of Game 2 of the 1996 NLCS vs. Cincinnati…Austin Riley and Ozzie Albies both homered in tonight’s ninth inning, the 17th time this season the Braves had a multi-homer frame...That is the most such innings in the majors…Per Stats Perform, Riley and Albies became the first pair of teammates 23 or younger to hit a home run in the same inning in MLB postseason history.

Austin Riley: Hit a 1-2, ninth-inning pitch from Blake Treinen out to left-center to give Atlanta a 2-1 lead…The shot was his first career postseason home run, and just the second Treinen has allowed all season…Riley’s homer was the sixth in franchise history to give Atlanta a lead in the ninth inning or later of a playoff game, joining Eddie Mathews (1957 World Series), Chipper Jones (1995 NLDS), Javy López (1996 NLDS), Rafael Furcal (2004 NLDS) and Rick Ankiel (2010 NLDS)…Riley is the fifth player in postseason history to hit a go-ahead home run in the ninth inning from the No. 9 spot in the batting order, joining NYM’s Lenny Dykstra (Game 3 of the 1986 NLCS), LAD’s Kirk Gibson (Game 1 of the 1988 World Series), TOR’s Ed Sprague (Game 2 of the 1992 World Series) and NYY’s Alfonso Soriano (Game 4 of the 2001 ALCS)…Riley is the youngest player with a go-ahead homer in the ninth or later in the playoffs since Chipper Jones in the 1995 NLDS.

Game 1: The Braves have won Game 1 in each of their three playoff series this season after beating the Dodgers tonight...Prior to the start of the 2020 postseason Atlanta had lost nine consecutive Game 1s of a playoff series dating to the 2001 NLDS vs. Houston (that streak does not include a loss in the Wild Card Game in 2012)…They are 13-4 (.765) in a series when they win Game 1 and 3-17 (.150) when they drop the opener…Atlanta is now 5-7 (.417) in Game 1 of the NLCS...The Braves last won Game 1 of the LCS in 1999, beating the Mets, 4-2...Atlanta last lost a series when winning Game 1 in 1996, when they won the first two games of the World Series at Yankee Stadium, before dropping the next four.

Winning Streak: Atlanta has won all six of its postseason games this season, the longest playoff winning streak for the club since also winning six straight games in 1999 and the longest by the club to ever open a postseason…The Braves’ current playoff winning streak is tied for the second longest in franchise history, and trails just a franchise-most seven consecutive wins in 1995…Just three teams in history have opened a postseason with a longer winning streak, including the 2014 Royals (eight straight), 2007 Rockies (seven) and 1976 Reds (seven).

ERA: The Atlanta pitching staff has allowed just six earned runs through 58.0 postseason innings, pitching to a 0.93 ERA…Braves starters have a 1.30 ERA (5 ER/34.2 IP), while the bullpen has a 0.39 ERA (1 ER/23.1 IP).

Max Fried: Made his third career postseason start and held the Dodgers to four hits, two walks and one run over 6.0 innings…He struck out a postseason career-high nine, tying the most by a Braves left-hander in playoff history…Make Hampton fanned nine in Game 2 of the 2003 NLDS, and Steve Avery struck out nine twice (Game 2 of the 1991 NLCS, Game 3 of the 1992 World Series)…RHP John Smoltz is the only Braves pitcher to fan double-digit batters in a playoff game, doing so four times.

Scoring Early: Freddie Freeman drove Walker Buehler’s fifth pitch of the game out to right field to give Atlanta a 1-0…In the 2018 NLDS, Los Angeles held Atlanta scoreless during the first 19 innings of the series…The Braves have scored first in each of their six games this postseason and went 24-6 (.800) when doing so during the regular season, the best mark in the National League and second best in the majors (Tampa Bay, 25-6, .806).